Soracom’s Mission: The Democratisation of IoT

Parag Mittal, Chief Commercial Officer, SORACOM

“Our focus is the democratisation of IoT. For me, the measure of success would be that Soracom is recognised not just for excellent commercial performance, but also for the work it has done to support the industry.”

Interview by Abraham Joseph, Editorial Director, IoT Insights

What is the origin of Soracom?

Soracom was founded in Japan in 2015 by three experts in telecommunications and cloud technologies, our CEO, Ken Tamagawa, our CTO Kenta Yasukawa and our COO Daichi Funato. We launched our service in Japan on 30 September 2015. From the onset, our objective was to develop a communications network that was optimised for IoT, with the performance and scalability to serve all customer groups. One year after launch, we had over 4000 clients. Today we have over 5000 clients. (Read more...)

KDDI Japan Selects Gemalto’s Connected Cars and IoT solution

30 June 2016 – Gemalto, a world leader in digital security, today announced that it has been selected to provide its LinqUs On-Demand Connectivity (ODC) subscription management solution and embedded SIMs (eSIMs) for KDDI, a leading operator in Japan with over 40 million subscribers, to enable secure connectivity for connected cars and IoT applications worldwide. As a result, KDDI can now provision any requested operator's profile on connected cars equipped with pre-embedded eSIM, allowing automakers and solution providers to offer seamless remote subscription over the air throughout the lifecycle of the car. Motorists can access optimized real-time information about traffic and nearby amenities, navigation, vehicle diagnostics, and emergency services, anytime, anywhere.

The lack of flexible and interoperable remote subscription management is a major challenge in deploying IoT. Gemalto's solution, based on global GSMA specifications, will simplify logistics for OEMs and automakers. LinqUs On-Demand Connectivity is integrated to several IoT connectivity platforms, offering utmost flexibility to KDDI.

"Gemalto has been our trusted partner for a long time, and has helped us launch many successful projects," said Keiichi Mori, Executive Officer, General Manager, IoT Business Development Division, Solution Business Sector at KDDI. "Their solution is based on interoperable GSMA standards, and will provide a common and consistent way to connect devices in the future. With long-lasting relationships with over 500 mobile operators worldwide and a strong local presence, they can help us expand our services to other IoT applications, to obtain rapid growth in the connected world."

"IoT is increasingly turning connected cars into powerful hubs for value-added services such as infotainment, real-time vehicle telematics, and usage-based insurance, offering plenty of opportunities to OEMs and service providers," said Michael Au, President South Asia and Japan at Gemalto (above). "With simplified subscription management, KDDI is strongly positioned alongside Japanese car manufacturers to take a lead in this relatively new market worldwide."